A love triangle and a witness: New details in Virginia stabbing death
By Alan Etter
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GREAT FALLS, Virginia (WTOP) — The man accused of fatally stabbing a woman last month in Great Falls, Virginia, told a witness he was going to kill the woman, according to a Fairfax County criminal complaint.
Alexis Cedillos-Campos, of Herndon, was charged in the Monday, Aug. 17 stabbing death of 42-year-old Carmen Puch along Difficult Run Trail in Great Falls Park.
Puch and Cedillos-Campos worked together at a restaurant in Herndon and had been involved for some time in an intimate relationship, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
The witness told police that Cedillos-Campos was working that Sunday but left early after Puch sent screenshots of their affair to his girlfriend, the complaint states.
The witness said Cedillos-Campos was upset and said he was going to kill Puch. He reported hearing Cedillos-Campos in a phone conversation with Puch at around 1:30 a.m.
Cedillos-Campos then left, wearing black latex gloves and taking a kitchen knife and a water bottle with him. Similar gloves and an empty water bottle were later recovered at the crime scene, the complaint states.
The 19-year-old then called the witness at around 4 a.m. to say he did it, then abruptly hung up, according to the complaint.
On the day of the stabbing, officers were dispatched shortly before 7 a.m. to the trail along Georgetown Pike where the body was discovered. Puch was suffering from multiple stab wounds and was declared dead at the scene.
Officers found the water bottle, and it had an odor of gasoline, as did Puch’s body, leading investigators to believe Cedillos-Campos tried unsuccessfully to set her body on fire, police said. It was later discovered that Cedillos-Campos had emptied the water bottle he took from the restaurant and filled it with gasoline siphoned from his motorcycle, police said.
Detectives also located a cellphone case on the ground near Puch’s body but could not find a phone nearby. Call records indicated Puch last communicated with a number belonging to Cedillos-Campos, who was arrested in Prince George’s County, Maryland on Aug. 19 after a brief chase.
After his arrest, police said he offered a full confession.
Cedillos-Campos is being held at the Fairfax County Detention Center on a no-bond status. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 30.
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